Truly! A speech worth of comparison with Mark Antony’s harangue post the assassination of Caesar – but that was politics, and as that be a dirty word in the language of the ’embedded activists’, why this political extortion to ‘extinguish death penalty’ ? For that is what this is all about, beneath the veneer of ‘humanity’. Politics. So, I shall be short in my exposition (and shall be true to my promise, no hyperbole) of the blunder in ‘Calling for Mercy without Justice to the Victims’. It is an affront to Nature (God to those prefer it as such). Let’s take the case of the death penalty of Veerappan’s associates which is causing so much of anguish in doddering retired SC Judges, Paid News Print Media, Embedded Journalists and Fashionable Ivory Tower Liberalists. 1) Let us not forget certain basic facts – Veerappan and his associates were more than Ecological Terrorists. They were remorseless men, filled not only with bloodlust for the elephants they hunted but their humans protectors, for whom they had equal or more contempt. There was not even a fig leaf of ideology (the Robin Hood of Tamils being a convenient after thought) – the motive was profit, at the expense of entire species – the Sandalwood trees and the Asian elephants. So, let us “rise to thinking the extra ordinariness of this organised eco-killing, the uniqueness of the process of this extermination, and the everyday commonness of the butchery, the last hours of these 2000 magnificent animals and smithereened 22 humans”. No, bleeding heart arm chair activist to organise, an online or offline an ‘Elephant Bachao Andolan’ unlike the ‘Narmada Bachao’ andolan. Is it because, elephants are less ‘humane’ than ‘Gnanprakasham, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah or Bilavendran’? Or is it because, the 22 people who died in the landmine blast where mere, dispensable ‘State Robots’, paid for by the people, to protect the people and their cause – conservation of rare indigenous species ? In any case, why did not the ‘Rights Activists’ clamouring for mercy for the marauders of the asian elephants not protest against the savaging of the elephants ? Where were the PFA, PETA ? Are we to understand, just like Bureaucrats, ‘activists’ accept being compartmentalised ‘my department- humans’, ‘your department – animals’ ? 2) Think about it, if you will, for a minute (for we don’t have much time! The Earth is unable to stop life on it to die off) —the calmness of every Saturday evening, sitting in any Indian state, in front of a computer and dashing off posts, pro-life, against death to Paedophilic Rapists cum Murders, Mass murderers from the Extremists Ideology – Economic – Maoists or Capitalists (Union Carbide), Divisive Terrorists – Casteist or Religious, Remorseless Gang Rapists cum Murderers, the list of the Unrepentant is endless…., unmindful of the burgeoning lawlessness…..the rain of protests day and night not washing away this infestation from our society. Every day, it is always fresh and joyous for such marauders, an opportunity once more, to perpetuate crimes from within the prison walls, or without. Does it matter ? Their numbers growing fast, for it is not more rewarding to break the law than fight it ? Make it big enough and will not some professional activists form a clique to protect ‘their’ rights. 3) What joy is to be alive, for the kith and kin of the victims of these perpetuators ? Knowing that, while the perpetuators and their supporters shall crow in private, lives were given up in vain? That rain, by its stinging wash, has laid naked, the depravity of some of our brethren, presumably law abiding citizens, sitting in judgment over a judgement on four terminators (out of 109 accused) of 22 humans and 2000 elephants and innumerable sandal wood; Bemoaning on the mercy denied and pardon refused. Not questioning the unrepentant, whose heydays were spent, intoxicated with power derived from the end of the barrel, and whose bloodlust was never satisfied by rhythmic killing; sanguine that tomorrow morning, or any time thence, they could kill, with impunity, your kith, my kin, and all we hold dear, irrespective of whether we did or did not comply with their views. For we are nothing but slaves, to slave and offer a part of our earning, taxed because we abide by the law. 4) For, death does not begets death, but it is said, the reason for life is, ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’, ‘those who shall live by the sword, shall die by it’. Justice stands on the two feet of Rationality and Humanity. If one is maimed, the other is overworked at the cost of other, and the balance is upset. Justice is about balance. Besides, if religion is to be invoked to support arguments, the right to ‘Forgive or Punish’ has always rested with the wronged and Forgiveness is induced in the wronged with genuine repentance by wrong doer. Today, I watched the daughters of two of the accused on Sun TV, both claimed ‘my father is innocent’ and that ‘their fathers had been wronged’. In that case, the Judges, and all such Judges who have given wrong Judgements should be hanged or punished. Besides, how to call forth to the relatives of the 2000 elephants killed by these Eco Terrorists ?

Scam, Scandal and Scoundrels who do not cringe at murder.At this rate, some one is going to suggest that the UDF should be termed as ‘United Demonic Forces’.For all we know, the next breaking news would be that the Nirbhaya case was one of a mistaken identity gone horribaly and dangerously wrong; That some vested interests had planned to instigate a gang rape of some whistle-blower’s daughter and pass it off as ‘spontaneous criminal act’. The message would have been subtly conveyed to the whistle-blower and sowed enormous fear in the whistle blower’s mind. The entire family thrown in to paroxysm of fear & suspicions. He/She would have been left running pillar to post to get the case registered and investigated; If at all they had the stomach to do it – not, if there had been any threat of circulation of RAPCs (Rape Porn Clips) through MMS. The only hitch, wrong girl & partner and out of control thugs who couldn’t accept that any pair would put up such a fight.Is this the reason that the Verma Committee dare not recommend the death penalty for rape ? Too many politicians would be indicted ? The whole Indian society would find itself thrown in to civilian unrest as one after another, across politics, industry and religion, skeletons tumble out ? Or that death penalty would wipe out the living evidence of a deeper plots?

All Abuse is bad; Sexual worse and Paedophile (abuse of young children) the worst.

To really understand and address any problem if statistical tools are to be used, the first step would be to choose a significant size, geographical spread, and samples across a strata for a chosen trait significant to the subject like both victim’s and the aggressors’ age , socio-economic and cultural background etc. In this case, 100 seems to few to conclude “Children who bravely complain of sexual abuse are often dismissed or ignored by the police, medical staff, and other authorities”. The implications of the aforesaid mode of sampling would throw light on following:

1) Whether the police stations approached, habitually turn down all such requests (that is complaints of sexual harassments) as a matter of routine. In that case, it is not ignorance, but reluctance, a bigoted misogynist mindset. It has been noted that a bigoted mind generally leans towards misogynist tendencies. Thus, the location and composition of the police station is generally of importance. 2) Age of the victim is a crucial factor, the general tendency in any patriarchal mindset is to consider a child of 14 and above (especially if physically mature in appearance) to assume that ’emotional and mental’ response would be like a ‘mature nubile woman.

3) One should also factor in the tendency, especially in the lower income (associated caste levels) groups to understate the age of a girl due to stigma attached to marriageable girls remaining single. So, if the sample in 100 contains predominantly 16 or 17+ minors, then it is possible, that there is a likely hood that actual age could be higher and that after interaction with such victims, the police might fall into the category at S.No.2 above.

4) Then there is the nature of sexual abuse itself. In case of rape (penetration) of young children say up to 15, by an older man is certainly going to involve grievous injuries. In other forms of abuse, masturbation, forcing oral sex out of the child, committing oral sex etc,, stopping short of actual rape, as evidence of actual physical abuse is difficult to ascertain, police might succumb to the theory ‘wilful maligning and settling of scores’ – not justified, but which police would consider as in such cases, as the aggressors are generally known to the victims or related.

5) The nature of the aggressor is also important. A substance abuser, who has worked himself into a sexual frenzy , a porn addict similarly primed would seek a victim. If a ‘suitable target’, minor or mature; if not available, he would settle for second best, a young child. One needs to note that these are not paedophiles. They are just opportunistic and hence doubly dangerous as the effect of their action can be physically horrendous for the victims unlike milder forms of sexual abuse resorted to by some paedophile. This is because, a paedophile is in there for a long haul. He needs to hide his trait, camouflage his intentions and stay anchored in the society he lives in. So his victims might not be physically mutilated except in extreme cases.

Thus, the need of the hour is not just to make police aware of a law, but also ensure that in all such cases where a complaint is raised on sexual abuse and physically difficult to prove, state approved child psychiatrists need to be called to the station to evaluate the victims emotional and mental trauma and to guide the police in filing the FIR.

Its never a game, Its never a war (for honour that is). The world has long rid itself of heroes who do, who play , even for misplaced fleeting glory. Its just money, money, money; and for what – honey i.e. honey traps (women other than wife), honey (drinks) or anything else. In fact the ‘dominance’ is nothing but a primitive urge to have ‘power’ which will enable the possessor to unlimited access to women, wine and song (maska or lavish flattery by media). Otherwise, why should a team game, which involved a lazy, relaxed, sporting outing in the sun in the cooler hemispheres, in utter greenery – get transformed into a frenetic display of machismo heavily laced with match fixing and betting ? So, now, a scandal ridden pauperised government has decided to levy a penalty ? That’s a cool way to turn black to white. Hmm?

Dear Aakar, what a delightful piece, so many self contradictions, yet so glib, no body will have trouble sweekar-ing it . Imagine, rape is not about a woman’s ‘aakar’ or ‘ahmkar’, but ‘sweekar’. So, I sweekar your article and would like to add to it. Sure, there should be no death penalty for rapists; after all the statistics say India is better off than other countries ( Let’s trash the adage “Lies, damned lies, and statistics“). No, we should wait (1) Till the death ratio in India rises to say one rape death to one normal death (including non sex related murders & accidents). Hah, Hah, these pink jeddis painted women can wait for ever.Even by your extrapolated reporting ratio, they will never reach this ratio. We will not include suicides, self immolation. Considering that we are a ‘honor obsessed nation’, these numbers would screw up our ratios. But people like me and you, can always classify these deaths as ‘neurotic’ and the Police would be glad of our support to improve their statistics and the administration would be relieved of the burden of investigating these cases (2) Rape and murder of children, as young as 1 day to say 8 years can be classified as ‘mere paedophilia acts’ and weeded out for better statistics. Once the hysteric media is cowed down by our rational responses, the general population will understand that going and crying to the media for ‘trial by media’ is going to be of no help and the rapists will stop killing the children. After all, penalty of death will not stop rapists from killing their victims.The security blanket provided by the Indian honour system and the sheer drudgery of the justice system that will ensure that victims and the witnesses will not report these cases. This way the fear of the rapists that they might be named and shamed will not be aggravated and the victims will not be killed. This way the male to female ratio will also improve and we can claim that in spite of a skewed sex ratio, gang rapes are not numerous (3) Only genocide can qualify for death sentence. The statistics that there is an alarming trend of skewed sex ratio is nothing more than “Lies, damned lies, and statistics“. Who ever heard of a nation dying out because of a skewed sex ratio ? Ok, even if such a situation arises – (a) because of the allegedly spiralling crimes against women (as trafficking for sexual and or economic slavery, abduction for rapes or honour killing, dowry deaths etc..) and (b) assuming that alarmed by these frequent reports by a recalcitrant media (which was not cowed down by our rational, balanced views) that the poorest of the Indian couples start aspiring to higher classes comfort of foeticide – to avoid becoming a ‘dishonourable statistics’ later on, lets have a cut off. We shall wait until a situation arises when women are farmed (breeded) for birthing in the following ratios: Nine children in every woman’s life time – Two hard working, sturdy women for back breaking work, One good looking, nubile, healthy woman for sex and Six brawny boys to pin down the three during marital rape for further breeding.Now, after this situation arises, if there is gang rape and murder, we can always impose a death penalty for destroying our nation’s ‘scarce assets’. For, after all, what’s a woman is in our society, other than a movable asset to be used and disposed. Hmm?

The most effective deterrent is Death Penalty. The Committee has not included this, has made no provision for this, even in rarest of case. Utopian and very Cerebral indeed. Lets put it this way, (1) The Aggressors shall, at the cost of the exchequer, ruminate on his/their excesses, for life (please note there is no provision in the recommendations to review the sentence, to gauge remorse or psychological change in the attitude of the rapist(s). Positive review cannot be tested unless the rapists are set free among vulnerable women once again.(2) So, however violent, brutal be the serial rapist, gang rapists, paedophiles the aggressors can walk free after minimum seven years. (3) If the aggressors commit the same crime after release, should the blame be on the the State, Police or the Judiciary ? Politicians, Bureaucrats, Police are all accountable. How come there is no provision for such accountability especially for above examples ? The committee has not recommended maintenance of any register for sexual offenders. (4) If there is a brutal assault on a pregnant woman and if she becomes vegetative, or the fetus aborts or both die because of such assault, should the case be tried under the “rape’ clause or otherwise? (5) If one of the gang rapists is AIDs infected and if the victim survives with AIDs (common trafficking cases), can this be considered as ‘life sentence’ upon the victim or a ‘death sentence’? (6) There is mention of ‘voyeurism’ , however, today’s porn industry is not just ‘voyeurism’ . It thrives on trafficking of children, men and women. It thrives on cyber space, but is constructed in corporeal world of drugs, rape and exploitation. This is the future world. The Committee has not come out with specific recommendations on sexual cyber crime. Stalking is too mild a word for it. As technology evolves, so must laws. Prevention & Preemptive action by State has to be supported by specific laws. (7) How will the State discharge its obligation to ensure gender justice (including protecting women from crime and abuse, what about exploitation other than sexual ?) overnight ? How can mindsets be upgraded in such a short time as to bring down the rate of rapes per hour ? (8) What about Juveniles raping older women or other juveniles ? Is a juvenile to be classified as such only by a mere school certificate, which can be manipulated at the initial stages in rural areas ? World over, humanity is reaching sexual maturity at younger ages. Is there a tool to measure the equation between sexual vs emotional and mental maturity to assign responsibility of action ? A month to re-evaluate the most ancient crime of humanity against humanity – Rape cum Murder ?

Islam does not forbid healthy discussions on religion. In fact it is liberal “Revile not those unto whom they pray beside Allah lest they wrongfully revile Allah through ignorance. Thus unto every nation have We made their deed seem fair. Then unto their Lord is their return, and He will tell them what they used to do”. Here the issue seems political. When religious groups become political, they lose the right to claim that they represent God.In fact the above verse clearly indicates that God is capable of taking care of himself. What does Azhar mean ‘one wrong and another wrong’ ? Hate speech is different. In his movie ‘Hey Ram’, Kamalahasan criticized a Hindu fundamentalist. If the issue is, head count of how many Muslim Terrorist, Christian Terrorist,Hindu Terrorist, Jewish etc. Then let Azhar read up history….all religions and political dogmas,have indulged in violence; so God is the greatest terrorist because he has given so many Prophets contradicting each other. In fact the title ‘Vishwaroopam’ becomes apt, because in the Gita, the Vishwaroopam of Lord Krishna is said to have terrorized Arjuna into submission. What secular Muslim outfits should do is call for a fatwa against the juvenile who supposedly brutalized Nirbhaya. They should also ensure that the poor backward Muslims in various states of India are at least capable of offering once in a day.That they are morally strong enough to shun pornography. “Tell those who believe, to forgive those who do not look forward to the Days of Allah: It is for Him to recompense (for good or ill) each People according to what they have earned. (45:14)”